Five-year project plans to reshape how evidence from mental health research is used to help inform services and shape government policy
A new five-year initiative aims to improve the coordination of services for mental ill patients across the island of Ireland.
CO-PRIME (COproducing and Promoting Research and Innovation in Mental HEalth) is the first all-island mental health collaborative research network in Ireland. It will be led by Prof. Sinead McGilloway, founder of the Centre for Mental Health and Community Research in Maynooth University.
“By combining mental health research expertise and resources north and south, this initiative – which is the first of its kind in Ireland – will bring real benefits to people who are affected by mental health difficulties and their families” said Prof. McGilloway, who is working in collaboration with co-leads Dr Eve Griffin from the National Suicide Research Foundation and Prof. Brian McGuire from the University of Galway.
“We know that mental health difficulties affect directly or indirectly every community, family and part of society, and through CO-PRIME we are working to address that in a more co-ordinated, all island fashion.”
The initiative aims to reshape some of the ways in which mental health research is conducted and, in particular, how the knowledge and evidence arising from research is used across the island to help inform services and shape government policy.
“The launch of CO-PRIME is a very important moment for mental health research across the island of Ireland,” added Prof. McGilloway.
“For the first time we are bringing together diverse voices, including those with lived experience, to build a truly collaborative, inclusive and evidence-informed approach to understanding and addressing mental health needs.
“As well as helping people with mental health difficulties, this network will benefit other stakeholders working in the area including health and social care services, researchers, policy makers, community organisations and the general public.
“CO-PRIME has many specific goals it aims to achieve. It will support meaningful and sustained collaboration across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Crucially, it will embed the involvement of people with lived experience of mental health difficulties across all of its activities.”
The project will be funded by the Health Research Board for an initial five-year period.
Co-lead Eve Griffin said the initiative will also ‘foster a culture of wide stakeholder involvement in the design, conduct and application of research, including perspectives from marginalised and underrepresented communities’.
“We will promote evidence-informed, rights-based approaches in mental health policy and practice,” she added.
Fellow co-lead Prof. Brian McGuire said: “We will aim to build capacity across the mental health ‘ecosystem’ through training, education and researcher development.”
Comments (0)